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Baldur's Dale, The Infinity Engine Games Thread |
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SubRosa |
Oct 29 2014, 03:03 AM
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Ancient
Joined: 14-March 10
From: Between The Worlds
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I have been playing BG2 for a while now and have formed some opinions on it. Especially vis a vis BG1.
One thing I definitely like about BG2 over BG1 is that I almost never get attacked while resting in BG2. Where it was almost constant in BG1. It still happens in BG2, but only very rarely. That makes me a lot more willing to rest, which in turn means I don't have to worry about conserving spells so much, and can turn the mages loose much more. I still prefer the Neverwinter Nights games in this respect though. You never get attacked while resting there.
OTOH, one thing I liked better about BG1 was the way the world was laid out in a wide open fashion. The game was laid out so you could walk from one outdoor 'level' to the next, and go all over the place at your whim. But in BG2 you start in the city, and the only way to travel to other places in the world is to first unlock them via starting the quest that takes place there. It makes the world feel much less open, and a lot narrower and smaller.
Another thing that is starting to drive me nuts is constantly hearing "My weapon is faulty!". It seems that no matter where I go, I am constantly fighting monsters that I cannot damage with my weapons, and that spells do absolutely nothing to. It looks like you need at least a +3 weapon to damage a lot of monsters. So of course those are hard to come by. Persephone is now hauling around the Flail of the Ages for a backup weapon, because it is one or the only things that can harm an Iron Golem. Thankfully the group just picked up that +5 Paladin sword for Keldorn to use. So now two members of the party can hurt things. Minsc has the Elven Court Bow, which is +3, but it never harms any of the 'special' monsters, even when using magic arrows.
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Acadian |
Oct 29 2014, 02:34 PM
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Paladin
Joined: 14-March 10
From: Las Vegas
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It does take a fair amount of bean counting and knowledge to lessen frustration - especially when it comes to mage-busting. I found any of the guides written by DSimpson here to be extremely helpful. Oh, and speaking of mage-busting, there are four key spells with which you can bust any mage. They are: Dispel Magic, Breach, True Sight, and Ruby Ray of Reversal. Keldorn comes with both Dispel Magic and True Sight (two reasons to love him), Breach is not hard to get fairly soon. Ruby Ray is a higher level spell so you have to fumble around with the lower level spell breakers until you get it. Lilarcor makes a great weapon (+3 2H sword) for Minsc at this point and is not hard to get in the Slums. Overall though, I agree. While BGII is a very good game, it is rather linear and, thus, limited in how long it is fun to play the same character. I always found the funnest portion to be from the beginning until you actually depart on the 'go fetch Imoen' piece of the saga. That is, running all around the long list of areas and quests that help you build up for that.
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SubRosa |
Oct 30 2014, 05:23 PM
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Ancient
Joined: 14-March 10
From: Between The Worlds
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I found a +3 Halberd called Dragon's Bane I think, and I gave it to Minsc, along with the dragon scale armor I got off the red dragon, and a dragon helmet. It is too bad he is a two-hander, otherwise I would have given him Peridan and the dragon shield too. I used EEKeeper to move his proficiencies around to the halberd skill so he could use it better. While I was at it, I changed him from a Ranger to a Fighter, so he could take more than two dots in a skill. It is not like he really ever does rangery stuff in my games anyway. Aerie has been turning out to be an excellent single class cleric. I had Cromwell smith her up some Anhkeg Armor and gave it to her. Between that and her enchanted shield she has an Armor Class of -8. Her Flame Strikes and Poisons can really make a difference, same with Cause Critical Wounds (that was what put the Shadow Dragon on the ropes). Nalia is going strong too. I took the Lower Resistance spell twice with her for dealing with those pesky bosses who are immune to everything. It helps. Her Fireballs have also cleared out rooms before the rest of the party could even get their swords wet more than once. Last night I went to the Umar Hills and picked up Mazzy as well. As always, she's a solid fighter, and a cheerful addition to any party. I started using DLTC Editor Pro to edit some of the items in the game to give them a +3, so they can hurt things. So far I have only done some of the Companion's unique weapons, like Mazzy's sword and bow, Keldorn's Hallowed Redeemer, the Sword of Chaos you start with, and so on. It has been making the game a lot less frustrating. Now that for once people are not constantly whining in my ear to go do this or that, I am thinking it is probably about time to go looking for Imoen. I have also been using the Concurrent ToB NPC Romances Hack by Sir Kalthorine ut Wistan so that my characters can actually try out the female romances. I only just started using it, but I think Aerie is hitting on Persephone with all her talk of sunsets. This post has been edited by SubRosa: Oct 31 2014, 12:42 AM
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Acadian |
Oct 30 2014, 05:32 PM
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Paladin
Joined: 14-March 10
From: Las Vegas
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That sounds great! Yes, I made Minsc a regular fighter but gave him the berserker power as well. That sounds great for Aerie - when I used her I went the opposite direction and made her a sorceress. But pure cleric sounds like it better suits your party. I always have Aerie in one way or another just because I love her personality. Although I like Mazzy, I never used her too often - only because I always had too many other characters I really wanted in my party. If you have not done so, you can also create your own party members. They don't really have any personality beyond vanilla voice responses, but they can help fill in gaps. Also, if you have not tried playing a monk, you might enjoy that as well. Kind of a slow starter but deadly at mid/higher levels. Edit: Just saw your edit. Of the three women you can romance, Aerie is my fave by far. This post has been edited by Acadian: Oct 30 2014, 05:33 PM
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TheCheshireKhajiit |
Jun 7 2019, 12:24 AM
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Ancient
Joined: 28-September 16
From: Sheogorath's shrine talking to myselves!
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QUOTE(SubRosa @ Jun 6 2019, 06:16 PM) Baldur's Gate 3 is coming. Larian is making it (the same folks who made Divinity Original Sin). It’s got Khajiit curious, fo sho.
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"Family is an odd thing, is it not? Defined by blood, separated by blood, joined by blood. In the end, it's all just blood." -Dhaunayne Aundae
May you walk on warm sands!
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SubRosa |
Jul 23 2020, 11:53 PM
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Ancient
Joined: 14-March 10
From: Between The Worlds
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I have been tinkering with Icewind Dale Expanded Edition. I bought it a long time ago, but never got far in playing it. I have been toying with running January and the Knights of Nerddom through it. But I keep ramming my head against the obtuseness of DnD 2.0 rules. For example, I am planning on playing January as a Paladin again. So I started her as an Elf. But elves can't be Paladins. So I started her as a Half-Elf, but half-elves cannot be paladins. I was thinking Blackjack would be an ideal Dwarf Bard. But dwarves cannot be bards (apparently there is a height limit to playing a guitar?). *grrrr* I found a mod that ports the DnD 3.5 rules to IWD and the two Baldur's games. But it failed every time I tried to install it on either Icewind Dale or Baldur's Gate 1. So I just deleted it. I did find a mod that adds the soundsets from Neverwinter Nights 2 to IWD and the two Baldurs games. So January and company can use the same voices I am now using for them in Storm of Zehir.
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